Convicted child rapist sentenced to 20 years behind bars …

Twenty years: that’s how long a convicted child rapist will spend behind bars. Before handing down his ruling this morning to thirty-eight year old Rene Chavez Ramos, Justice Herbert Lord heard a mitigation plea from the prisoner, who continued to maintain his innocence. On the victim’s side, an impact statement from Dr. Melhem Ayala was read in which the physician emphasized that the incident has left the minor with emotional and physical scars. The victim was only ten years old two years ago when she told police that she was at her family’s farm in Benque when Chavez, a farm worker, attacked her, rendered her unconscious, brutally raped her and left her conscious. The jury voted eight to one to convict Chavez of the crime last Friday.

This morning Justice Lord also handed down a sentence to a woman accused of killing her husband. Twenty-nine year old Josephat Choc had initially been charged with the Murder of her common-law husband Benedicto Salam but this morning she opted to plea guilty to the lesser charge of Manslaughter. Before sentencing the Belmopan mother, today Lord heard pleas from several persons, including former minister of government Dolores Balderamos Garcia and Choc’s mother, who both testified that Choc was a victim of domestic abuse. After taking those claims into consideration, Lord sentenced Choc to ten years in jail. On April third, 2005, Choc and Police Constable Benedicto Salam were at their home in Las Flores when they became embroiled in an argument. The fight came to a fatal end when Choc took Salam’s service revolver and shot him twice in the back. Choc’s sentence will take effect from April 2005.